This final Chapter of Flames of Wisdom is indeed a jewel. It is no secret that we live in difficult times, and find ourselves struggling against sin. We find it a great challenge to be on the one hand in the world, but not of the world.

We are so blessed by Almighty God. We have been given the great gift of life and Eternal Salvation - we have been redeemed from the Curse of the Law by the Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the potential to live forever in Paradise, where there is neither sickness, pain or mourning but life everlasting.

In order to saved, we must cooperate with the Grace of God, we must desire salvation above all else. We must also be committed to pursuing the path of holiness and avoiding the snares of the Evil One.

I found the writings of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk to be beautifully written and extremely instructive. I especially appreciated the reminder that "only those who have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires are Christians." That is unless we are willing to engage in spiritual warfare, we cannot be saved. We have to know the true state of our souls, and what vices and passions we need to struggle against, and then do so with Christ's help and by using the weapons of the Church, obeying scripture, prayer, remembering the presence of God, avoiding situations and persons that may lead us into sin and meditating on our own death and the final judgment.

I appreciated the author's pointing out that one of the grave dangers of our age is the need to choose carefully what we watch or hear on television, the internet, in movies and other forms of contemporary entertainment. These verbal and visual images can and do tempt us and provoke us to sin. This is of course easier said than done.

What we need to remember, however, is that we are not alone in our struggle. We have the Church to guide us and as we have seen in our reading of this wonderful book, we have the writings of the saints of the Church to turn to. Their timeless wisdom is a great treasure for us to discover. They may have lived in a different era, but nonetheless experienced the same passions and temptations. As St. Tikhon reminds us, we need to take time to meditate on the precious gift of life, and how fragile it is and fleeting, and the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven which is without end. Yes meditating on our own impending death is sobering, however, on the other hand it reminds us of the joy that awaits us if we journey on the road less traveled that leads to the Kingdom of God.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book with all of you who have participated in this book club. I ask that you post your reflections both on St. Tikhon's writings in the eighth and final chapter, and the book "The Flames of Wisdom" as a whole. I look forward to responding to your remarks and observation. Feel free to offer any feedback that you might have regarding the Orthodox Book Club as well as any suggestions you might have for for future books to be discussed in this forum.

May the Blessing of the Lord Be Upon All of You!

Fr. Peter Paproski

Last Edit: December 16, 2009, 16:18:22 by *

Posts: 16

Re: Interesting CommentReply #34 on : Wed December 16, 2009, 09:45:07

I too, was struck by the same quote, regarding not condemning our neighbor. I took it to mean that we should be careful not to judge our neighbor when we may also be guilty of the same sin or a worse one.

Posts: 8

Interesting CommentReply #33 on : Tue December 15, 2009, 20:45:39

I especially was struck by one of St. John's quotes: "whatever sin of body or spirit that we ascribe to our neighbor we will surely fall into ourselves" (96). I've heard the saying, judge not lest you be judged, but St. John here appears to be saying that in judging others we ourselves will commit the same sins.

Posts: 16

Chapter 7 - St. John of the Ladder - Controlling the TongueReply #32 on : Thu December 10, 2009, 14:14:29

This chapter has much to offer to us who live in a noisy and talkative world. It seems we just can't escape it. It struck me that talkativeness is akin to noise pollution... When we talk to much we pollute the air, even if what we say is harmless, eventually it can be destructive to our soul and those around us.

St. John cautions us to be careful about what we say and advises that we think before we speak.
As our tongue can cause us to sin, through saying hurtful or sinful things, or slandering someone else. So he says that we need to consider our motives before we speak. Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking we are speaking about someone's problems out of concern, when we are really engaging in gossip.

I appreciated St. John's practical advice on how we can overcome and control the sin of talkativeness. He reminds us that if we can restrain our bodies through fasting, we will also be able to restrain our tongue - so therefore ascetical labors are key. Also when we are tempted to speak about the sins of others, we should look for the good in the person that sins.
And finally we should not even listen to someone who is gossiping but instead, remember that we too are sinners and have no right to condemn another person.

Let us for a moment consider the opposite of talkativeness - silence. The fruits of silence are many with the chief among them being it draws us closer to God.

The timeliness of this chapter is incredible being that we are now in the midst of the Nativity Fast. What a perfect time for us to control the appetite of our tongue as we do the same for our body! By denying ourselves of the excesses of the body and the tongue, we will receive the delectable "fruits" of the Holy Spirit.

I apologize for taking a week off --- it was hectic with the Thanksgiving Holiday... but am back on track. I wish all of you a peaceful and spiritually profitable season of Advent (The Nativity Fast)

On to Chapter 6 - St. Dorotheos of Gaza on Humility.

This chapter is short and sweet and deals with one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of the Church for being victorious in spiritual warfare. As St. Dorotheos writes: "Nothing is more powerful than humility"

St. Dorotheos' teachings are similar to that of St. Silouan who also taught that humility is the key to self-knowledge, and the pre-requisite of the knowledge of God.

Why humility? It is the antidote to the poison that Satan laces his darts that he shoots at us. Satan is the Father of lies, deceit, pride and arrogance. When we ourselves give into these passions, then we become like Satan.

St. Dorotheos tells us what humility is not... it is not self-justification, self-will and obstinacy. It is not merely an external attitude, but is a state of the heart.

I found it helpful when the author gives us practical ways in which we can foster a contrite and humble heart: That we should pray for it and we should practice lowliness of heart, and be open to correction and advice from others, and consider others to be of more importance than ourselves. Thus, we need to adopt a new attitude one of service of others before ourselves. As the author points out, we can practice humility by allowing others to go in front of us in line and by denying our self some creature comforts and pleasures.

Your insights and questions please....

Posts: 8

St. Isaac the SyrianReply #30 on : Sat November 21, 2009, 21:17:28

The chapter on St. Isaac the Syrian reminds me of Lectio Divina (Holy Reading) and the four steps attributed to it: Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio. I remember having read that monks under the Rule of St. Benedict read Scripture several hours daily, and even more on Sunday! It appears that this practice of sacred reading is a universal tradition of the Church.

Recently, I heard an interesting story on the importance of reading Scripture. The story also relates to St. Isaac's words concerning how the reading of Scripture purifies the heart.

The story goes that a monk went to his elder and complained over the usefulness of reading Scripture. He explained how every day he read Scripture but forgot everything shortly after. The elder in response told the monk to take two bowls. Every day the monk would fill the one bowl with water but empty it at the end of the day. The other bowl he would always keep empty. After doing this for some time, the monk brought the results to the elder. Both bowls were empty, but the bowl in which the water was placed every day though emptied was clean on the inside. The other bowl was altogether filthy. The elder said, so too with the reading of Scripture and the heart.

Posts: 16

To Will: Re: St John of KrondstadtReply #29 on : Fri November 20, 2009, 15:57:56

You made an excellent point regarding prayer. If prayer is true, it will be reflected in our life. If it is just words to us, then it will have no power. Few people realize the practical fruits from prayer... far from being a compulsory, "drudge" activity meant to teach us discipline - it can and actually does have the power to bring us the "peace of God that passes all understanding" The calm and peacefulness it brings us to can be sustained in our lives. This is why the fathers caution us to remain quiet for a bit after prayer before beginning other tasks - so that that this state of peace will take root in our hearts and stay with us throughout the day.

Posts: 9

St. Isaac the SyrianReply #28 on : Fri November 20, 2009, 00:26:54

To be honest, in the amount of time I've spent on the Church Fathers, St. Isaac has unfortunately not been one of the ones whose teachings I've studied intensely... but I'm learning more about 'new ones' almost every day!
I do love the emphasis he places on reading scripture, something I wish I applied more of. The way he spoke of it reminded me of the way St. Seraphim of Sarov taught; I remember that St. Seraphim would instruct others to read the bible always standing up in the presence of Christ, much in exactly the same way that we should pray.

Posts: 9

St. John of KronstadtReply #27 on : Fri November 20, 2009, 00:16:36

I will say that here at the Broome Community College library, there are few books that are of Eastern Orthodox publication, but one does happen to be My Life In Christ, which is how I began to learn more about St. John. I have found him to be an ENORMOUS help with learning how to pray, especially the emphasis on speaking a prayer slowly and with thoughtful conviction that it may sink in; as opposed to the fast-moving quality of our everyday language. When I started to pray like this, I found that my everyday language actually started to take on a like quality.

This chapter does a great job explaining the Orthodox Christian approach to reading Scripture.

It is important to note that Orthodox Church has a deep reverence and devotion to Holy Scripture. St. Isaac the Syrian is but one example of a saint whose ardent love for Scripture was well known.

St. Isaac rightly points out that as Orthodox Christians we read Holy Scripture not for gaining intellectual knowledge but to commune with God. Therefore we are to read scripture with much reverence and the spirit of prayer.

Therefore, we must read scripture when we are in a prayerful state, in "...complete stillness, freed for excessive cares of the body and the tumult of daily affairs"

St. Theophan suggests we read scripture early in the morning before becoming busy or right before bed so that the words of scripture may sink into our hearts.

I was especially struck by how St. Isaac pointed out the therapeutic benefit of reading sacred scripture. He mentions the fact that if our mind is troubled by evil or lustful thoughts, then the more we read sacred scripture, the more positive and godly thoughts are able to take root within us.

Know the impatient nature of humanity and possessing an uncanny understanding of our present hurried, fast-paced life style, St. Isaac cautions us not to expect fast results in transforming our lives, through reading Holy Scripture. Instead he reminds us that the changes that will be lasting in our lives are those that come about after much labor and struggles.

Lastly, we are reminded that sacred scripture, although playing an extremely important role in the daily Christian life, must never be divorced from the living tradition of the Church. Spiritual knowledge is also contained in the practicing of good works and in the practical living of the faith, within the context of the Church.

Sacred scripture, from the Orthodox Christian perspective, can bring about spiritual growth and enlightenment when read and interpreted in the mind of the Church.